At Metaverse U we plan to have 4 “key” conversations. The idea is to put people with different perspectives on a given topic together and also let them pick up on themes that have come up during the conference. I am very excited to announce that in one of these will feature a conversation between Howard Rheingold, Cory Ondrejka and Raph Koster. I am really curious about what it really means when we get the ability form these virtual communities and had the amazing luck of having the top 3 names on my list agree to come have the conversation about this.

Howard literally wrote the book on The Virtual Community based on his experience with The Well that dates back to the mid eighties. Later in Smart Mobs he explored how technology can help us take collective action. Recently Howard has dipped his toes in virtual worlds but really made his mark through years of solid contributions to our understanding of what happens when we meet through technology.

Cory earned his tekkie cops during his many years of heading out the team that developed Second Life (SL). Many of its features are already now taken so much for granted that it is easy to forget how revolutionary they were only these few years ago. What really interested me about Cory was how he also found the time to spearhead the decision to allow SL residents to retain the IP rights to their creations and helped craft Linden's virtual real estate policy. Over the years he has authored a number of interesting papers and now his career has turned a new page; he has picked up the blogging again.

Raph is no stranger to blogging either. But his work with multiuser online environments goes back to the MUDs of the early nineties. He has stayed in field right up to today where he is heading out the widely anticipated Metaplace. I first became aware of him through his provocative Declaring the Rights of Players; a piece I still view as highly relevant today. Over the years through his work, blogging and numerous speaking appearances Raph has established himself as one of the field's leading thinkers.